- Joined
- Wednesday November 7, 2012
- Location
- Woburn Sands, Bucks
.. so Spurs are knocked out of a significant European competition because their extortionately paid players can't take penalties. All four of the Basle penalties were top class, they had confidence and knew what they were doing. I then heard on the radio this morning Andre Villas-Boas trotting out the same garbage that we hear time and again - "don't really practice penalties because it is impossible to recreate the pressure."
I am alone in thinking that attitude is complete and utter garbage. It is so wrong on a multitude of levels to my mind
1. How can players who are paid such astronomical amounts of money fail to perform something that is so fundamental to success?
2. Practice does not make perfect, but it should give one the confidence to know that they can hit a particular spot time after time. If not why do golfers practice putting, why do darts players practice throwing darts, why do snooker players practice, why do kickers in rugby practice? It absolutely beggars belief that players can't spend 30 mins a couple of times a week just hitting penalties, so when they time comes they know that they can put the ball where they want to.
3. Pressure. Surely coaching is about loading pressure on players so that they can cope with it. The biggest moments in sport are loaded with pressure; players have to learn to live with it, because it will always be there. Much of what Sir Clive Woodward said had a degree of mumbo-jumbo about it, but I think one of his most astute observations was that he tried to put pressure on his players to see who could handle it, who could cope with it.
4. Why are other teams, most of whom will not attract any of the attention, price tags, publicity etc, of our premier league stars seem to be able to dispatch penalties with aplomb? And this happens time and again so it is not luck.
5. The premier league is oft touted as the best league in Europe. Well, if that is the case how can it be that there is a single English team in the last four of the two major European competitions.
Sounds like a rant and it is - it really makes me angry when hugely remunerated professional sports people fail because they don't prepare properly, and then we hear such nonsense as a way of excuse. If we keep ducking the issue then it will not change.
There we go.....
Jon
I am alone in thinking that attitude is complete and utter garbage. It is so wrong on a multitude of levels to my mind
1. How can players who are paid such astronomical amounts of money fail to perform something that is so fundamental to success?
2. Practice does not make perfect, but it should give one the confidence to know that they can hit a particular spot time after time. If not why do golfers practice putting, why do darts players practice throwing darts, why do snooker players practice, why do kickers in rugby practice? It absolutely beggars belief that players can't spend 30 mins a couple of times a week just hitting penalties, so when they time comes they know that they can put the ball where they want to.
3. Pressure. Surely coaching is about loading pressure on players so that they can cope with it. The biggest moments in sport are loaded with pressure; players have to learn to live with it, because it will always be there. Much of what Sir Clive Woodward said had a degree of mumbo-jumbo about it, but I think one of his most astute observations was that he tried to put pressure on his players to see who could handle it, who could cope with it.
4. Why are other teams, most of whom will not attract any of the attention, price tags, publicity etc, of our premier league stars seem to be able to dispatch penalties with aplomb? And this happens time and again so it is not luck.
5. The premier league is oft touted as the best league in Europe. Well, if that is the case how can it be that there is a single English team in the last four of the two major European competitions.
Sounds like a rant and it is - it really makes me angry when hugely remunerated professional sports people fail because they don't prepare properly, and then we hear such nonsense as a way of excuse. If we keep ducking the issue then it will not change.
There we go.....
Jon